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Sanriku Fukkō NP, Iwate
Claim this place to tell your story your way.
The observatory looks toward a peninsula said to resemble a bear’s head and nose—that’s the origin of Kumanohana, or “Bear’s Nose.” Three pine-covered cliff points line up along the shore, making the profile fun to pick out.
The bear-shaped cape is cut from the Early Cretaceous Harachiyama Formation. Pacific waves have carved sea caves into the rock, so that playful silhouette is also a glimpse of a coastline still being reshaped.
Just beyond the lookout on the coastal trail, a sea cliff marks the chance 1978 discovery of Moshiryu: an exposed dinosaur upper-arm bone, later recognized as the first dinosaur fossil found in Japan.
On New Year’s morning, crowds gather at Kumanohana to watch the year’s first sunrise over the Pacific—a small local tradition that turns this pine-fringed cape into a shared celebration.
